Tabula Rasa
by sofia313
Summary: 2 years after Elijah lost all his memories, he has disappeared off his siblings' radar and built himself a new life and a new personality.
1. Chapter 1

**Part 1**

Paris, France

 _"The sun'll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun. Just thinkin' about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow 'til there's none. When I'm stuck with a day that's grey and lonely, I just stick out my chin and grin and say: Oh, the sun'll come out tomorrow, so ya gotta hang on 'til tomorrow come what may. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow you're always a day away. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow you're always a day away…"_

Isley hugged herself and repeated the song in her head over and over again. For some reason this song was always the first one that popped into her head when she needed to distract herself. She couldn't recall anyone ever singing it to her, but perhaps someone had. Perhaps someone had held her in their arms and sang her to sleep. Or perhaps not. Not that it mattered. Right now she had to stay awake, no matter how tired she was. This was the last place where she could fell asleep.

"I'll raise!" a tattooed bald man announced cockily. He spoke fluent English, but he had a thick German accent. Some men at the table were French, some British, American and who knew what else. Apparently vampires were an international bunch. Good for them. Isley pressed her lips together and rubbed her arms in order to stay warm. Apparently none of the vampires were cold, but she however was.

She tried very hard not to look at the compelled women who were serving drinks. All kinds of drinks. They kept smiling sweetly as they were bitten. That was nothing but messed up. This was actually her life now. How had that happened? How had she ended up in a place that seemed to be a renovated wine cellar to watch a group of vampires playing poker?

The answer was sitting at the table. Cedric. Her father. Or at least he had used to be her father. She didn't know what he was now. Unfortunately she was stuck with him. Trapped. There was no way out. Well, there was one way. She could finally end it all. Yes, she could, if she wouldn't have been a coward. Despite of everything, she wanted to live. She wanted to believe that there was something better for her. A chance for a new life.

 _"Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow you're always a day away…"_

Oh, shut up. How long had she been here? She had no idea. She could only pray that the morning would come soon. When he would go to sleep, she could finally sleep. Unless of course he would send her to run some errand. She was nothing but glad by the fact that he couldn't go outside after the sun would rise. At least vampires had some weaknesses.

Cedric hadn't told her much about vampires, but she knew for sure that he never should have become one. A violent drunk with an inhuman strength. A perfect combination. Now he was a sadistic vampire drunk. He probably felt right at home here. As always, Isley had avoided looking at anyone in the room, but she had certainly felt their eyes on her. Again she prayed for this night to be over already. She hadn't paid any attention to the game, she was too tired.

"Come on, fellows!" she suddenly noticed Cedric's voice saying. "You know I'm good for it!"

"You know the rules," their host, a Frenchman called Carlisle or something, replied. "No credit."

Oh great, apparently Cedric had lost all his money. Isley crossed her hands, although she doubted that anyone up there heard her or cared. She knew what would happen as soon as they would leave here. He would take his anger out on her, like the whole thing would have been her fault.

"Well… I still have something," Cedric stated after a brief silence. "Her."

Isley froze as all the eyes were suddenly on her.

"She's my bet," Cedric continued. "All in."

Isley stared at him disbelievingly, he couldn't mean that. He couldn't.

"Alright," Carlisle replied grinning. "Gentlemen?"

"I'm out," one of them huffed.

"Me too."

"And me."

"And me."

"Out."

"Me too."

"I'll call," Carlisle said.

Cedric grinned and placed his cards on the table.

"Tough luck, my fried. Full house."

He was just about to grab the money in the middle of the table when a calm voice stopped him.

"Just a moment."

Isley had just been about to sigh with relief, but now she tensed. The man who had spoken seemed very relaxed and somewhat careless as he looked at his cards. He had short dark brown hair and dark eyes; he was wearing a pair of black jeans and a leather jacket.

"I'm still in," he stated as he put his cards on the table.

No, no, no, this couldn't be happening… The man looked at Cedric and smiled.

"Straight flush."

It took a moment before Isley's mind managed to register what had just happened. All color left her face; she prayed that this was a nightmare. Cedric glared at the man furiously.

"You… You cheated!"

The man raised an eyebrow.

"That's quite an accusation. I have no need to cheat, the stakes weren't that high."

"You're not getting her," Cedric snapped.

"I believe I will. She was your bet, wasn't she?"

"Enough," Carlisle snorted before Cedric managed to argue. "Elijah is right, she was your bet and you lost, so she belongs to him now."

Isley was shaking; all she could think about was that she needed to run. She couldn't think clearly, she was in panic, so she ran towards the door as fast as she could. Of course it was useless, her pathetic attempt only made the vampires laugh. One of them grabbed her from behind and dragged her to the table.

"Here you are, mate," he chuckled with his English accent and shoved her towards her new "owner". She lost her balance and would have fallen down if he wouldn't have grabbed her arm and pulled her onto his lap. Her heart was beating so fast that she feared it would break her chest. The man, Elijah, observed her carelessly as he brushed her hair aside, exposing her neck. She didn't have time to scream when he bit her. No, no, no, no, no, no… She was sure that she was going to die, but he raised his head before draining her.

"Not bad," he stated, like she would have been a bottle of wine.

"Ce-cedric…" she managed to breathe out.

"Oh, he left already," Carlisle chuckled. "Sore loser."

Isley was shaking as Elijah pushed her off his lap and started to collect his winnings.

"Well, this was a lot of fun," he stated. "Thank you for a very pleasant evening." He paused and glanced at Isley. "Come on, time to leave."


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

Isley was struggling to stay calm as she sat in the car with the vampire called Elijah. He hadn't said a word to her after they had left Carlisle's house, he hadn't even looked at her. She wasn't sure was that a good thing or not.

"So…" she finally started, feeling the need to end the silence. "Do you live far?"

"No," he replied carelessly, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Okay… Is your place big?"

"No."

"I'm a great cleaner," she blurted out. "I really am. I can clean, do the laundry, run all your daytime errands, everything that needs to be done when you can't go outside."

He didn't say anything. That wasn't good, she needed to give him a reason for not to kill her.

"Oh and I can make the best omelet you've ever tasted. The secret is the cheese and of course spices. I can make you one as soon as we're in your place and if you don't have eggs and cheese and can go grocery shopping. Or if you need…"

"Do you always talk so much?" he snorted.

"No," she replied quickly. "I'm usually very quiet, you won't even notice me, I promise."

"Hmm. What makes you think that I would take you to my apartment?"

She swallowed.

"I can be useful to you, I swear. I've lived with a vampire for years, I know what you need."

His lips curved into an amused smile.

"I seriously doubt that, my little human."

A flush was rising in her cheeks, but she wasn't going to give up.

"I can make your life easier. I can run all your errands and if you make me the owner of your apartment, no other vampires can get in without an invitation."

For once she was grateful that she knew all these things, but he didn't seem impressed. What else could she offer to him? Think, think, think… She didn't want to die, not like this.

"You can feed from me," she said as calmly as she could. "When you don't feel like going outside. That's convenient, right?"

He didn't say anything. What more could he want? A punching bag? Something worse? She swallowed when she noticed that he drove the car down the ramp and into the semi-darkness of the underground parking garage. This was probably the apartment building where he lived.

"How do you want to do this?" he asked after parking the car.

"What do you mean?" she muttered cautiously. She was hugging herself and her heart was beating like a drum. There was no one here in this hour, just the two of them. No one would hear her or even if someone would, they wouldn't be able to help her. He glanced at her and crossed his arms.

"Easy way or the hard way? Can you walk by yourself or do I have to compel you?"

"No, no," she replied quickly. "I can walk."

Her hand was shaking as she opened the door and got out of the car. He did the same and locked the doors.

"Shall we then?" he stated and gestured towards the elevator.

Her legs felt heavy, but somehow she managed to move while her mind was desperately trying to find a way out of this. She couldn't outrun him and screaming would probably only make him kill her right there. What other options did she have? There had to be something. Neither of them spoke as they rode up the elevator to the tenth floor and walked down the corridor to the correct door. He unlocked the door and pushed it open.

"Get in," he huffed when she didn't move.

Her terror had paralyzed her, but somehow she managed to obey. The apartment wasn't very big and it looked quite ascetic. There were no rugs, paintings or ornaments, only a dark brown sofa, a TV, a small table and two chairs. The kitchen was very tiny and there were two closed doors, probably a bedroom and a bathroom.

"Home sweet home," Elijah stated.

"It's very nice," Isley replied cautiously. "Have you lived here for long?"

"No."

He opened the door to the bedroom and dropped his jacket on the bed. Suddenly the horrible thought hit Isley. His bed… Was that why he had brought her here? How could have she been so stupid for not realizing it before. In fact, the thought hadn't even crossed her mind. She was an idiot. A vampire or not, he was a man, what else could he want from her? Instinctively she wrapped her arms around her, desperately trying to calm herself down. He must have noticed her terror since he gave her an amused look.

"Don't flatter yourself, little human," he huffed. "You're not my type."

"Are you gay?" she blurted out and wanted immediately to kick herself.

His eyes widened before he burst into laughter.

"Oh, someone's vain," he chuckled. "You think that all the men who aren't interested in you must be gay?"

"No, no!" she assured quickly. "I'm sorry, that came out wrong. I'm sorry."

"Well, the answer to your question is no, I'm not gay."

"Oh… Okay."

She couldn't deny that she had kind of hoped that he would be gay. At least then she would know that her body would be safe from violation.

"So, where do I start?" she asked, trying desperately to sound perky instead of exhausted. "I could dust and wash the floor…"

"It's 4am," he stated. "Aren't you tired?"

"No," she lied. "I don't need much sleep. Or food."

He observed her for a brief moment before crossing his arms.

"Come here."

She couldn't move, instead she forced a terrible fake smile on her face.

"I would really like to get started, there seems to be a lot of dust…"

"What part of 'not my type' didn't you understand?" he snorted. "Come here."

Somehow she managed to obey, although every fiber of her being wanted to run or curl up into a ball. The bedroom was just as ascetic as the rest of the apartment, there was only a bed, a nightstand and a closet.

"Here," he said and patted the bed. "Lie down."

Her body refused to obey, she was too terrified. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Not very smart are you? How many times do I have to tell you that your body doesn't interest me? What I want is for you to get some rest."

"Why?" she murmured.

His eyebrows furrowed.

"Because I say so and I would advice you not to test my patience. Lie down."

This time she obeyed, although her whole body was rigid.

"There, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" he huffed. "Get some rest."

With that he turned around and left the room. She heard him turning the TV on. What would happen next? What was he going to do to her? She was determined to stay awake, but her eyelids weighted a ton. No, she couldn't fall asleep, she couldn't… It didn't take long before she lost her fight and drifted into sleep.


End file.
